Dyna-Soar in space was never to be, for the program was canceled in December 1963. One of reasons was the development of a new type of aerospace plane, the lifting body.
Orbiting Stations: Stopovers to Space Travel
Irwin Stambler
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1965
Image credit: Boeing
Image source: Numbers Station
Image credit: NASA
Image source: Mike Acs
Image credit: General Electric
Complex space vehicles from Earth in orbit around Mars some time in the late 70’s, as visualized by today’s engineers.
The Next Fifty Years in Space
by Erik Bergaust
Macmillan, 1964
Image credit: Rocketdyne
Image source: Numbers Station
Image credit: General Electric
Image source: Numbers Station
First manned landing on Mars! This Northrop sketch shows how a soft landing on the red planet might look from ground level. A steerable gliding cloverleaf parachute slows the craft down as the retrorockets start to fire. The parachute is then jettisoned, and the retrorockets perform the final maneuver for touchdown. Retrorocket braking was perfected in the 1960’s to provide the soft landings for the Surveyor moon probe.
Project Viking: Space Conquest Beyond the Moon
by Irwin Stambler
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1970
Image credit: NASA
Image source: Numbers Station
Project Viking: Space Conquest Beyond the Moon
by Irwin Stambler
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1970
Image credit: NASA
Image source: Numbers Station
Project Viking: Space Conquest Beyond the Moon
by Irwin Stambler
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1970
Image credit: NASA
Image source: Numbers Station
Image credit: USAF
Image source: AFMC
